In this book, the problems of cinema are considered in the general process of cultural development of the 20th century. The author tries to find in the history of culture such aesthetic phenomena that could be called the direct predecessors of cinema. Correlating the literary and spectacular layers of culture, he proves that in any culture they are oppositional.

A significant part of the book is devoted to the relationship between the visual and verbal layers of culture or cinema and literature at different stages of the history of the 20th century.

The book will be of interest to film scholars, philologists, cultural experts, students of the humanities, and to anyone interested in visual issues of art, culture and communication.